Dos Pueblos Comes from Behind to Defeat San Marcos in Five Sets

Junior outside hitter Jayden Jones provided a spark and the Dos Pueblos girls’ volleyball team caught fire late in its match against rival San Marcos.

Despite falling behind two sets to one, the Chargers stayed the course and rallied to defeat the Royals 26-24,22-25, 23-25, 25-15 15-11 to complete the season sweep on Thursday night at the Thunderhut.

“We were watching film on Friday from the last time we played them, and as soon as we turned it on her first comment was ‘oh I’m short.’ I don’t know if that’s ever registered in her mind because she doesn’t play like that,” said Dos Pueblos coach Megan O’Carroll of the 5′ 3” Jones. “The word I would use to describe her is fearless. She knows she can do it; she is not afraid to take a big swing; she is not afraid to dive for a ball; she is not afraid to try and go up and block somebody who is possibly a foot taller than her, and it’s really energizing for the team as whole to have somebody that plays so loose and fearlessly.”

Jones finished with a match-high 15 kills, the last of which came with Dos Pueblos trailing 11-10 in the fifth set. Jones sent a soft tap that lipped over the net and fell in to even the score at 11-11 and ignite a 5-0 Dos Pueblos run that closed out the match. 

“I saw the ball hit the net and I was like oh no it’s not going over. It trickled over the block and everyone on the other side just stared at it watching it going down,” said Jones of the momentum-shifting play. “That made me really excited.”

The match was hard fought from the opening serve. A kill by Jones evened set one at 23-23. Lia Papador followed with an ace serve that put the Chargers in front 24-23 before San Marcos outside hitter Elena Thomas tied the score again, 24-24, with a hard spike. 

Another kill by Jones gave Dos Pueblos a 25-24 lead and the Chargers took set one when San Marcos hit into the net.

In set two, an ace serve by Josie Gamberdella increased the San Marcos lead to 24-19 and the Royals evened the match at one set apiece after a Dos Pueblos hitting error. 

San Marcos carried that momentum over into set four and took a 21-11 lead when Grace Stone and Cora Loomer combined for a block. However, Dos Pueblos responded with a 12-3 run. A block by Addison Low and Lia Papador cut the Dos Pueblos deficit to 24-22 and forced a San Marcos timeout. The Royals then hit into the net to cut the deficit to 24-23, but a Dos Pueblos serving error allowed San Marcos to take a 2-1 set lead.

Dos Pueblos dominated set four, forcing a fifth and final set. In the fifth set Dos Pueblos took a 7-4 lead on an ace by Sonia Mancuso. However, San Marcos stormed back, cutting its deficit to 9-8 on a kill by Stone. Later in the set, Samantha Fallon and Kalin Cooney combined for a block to give San Marcos an 11-10 lead before Dos Pueblos closed out the match.

Thomas led San Marcos with 13 kills. Cara Loomer finished with eleven kills and Cooney added ten kills. Katie Kracke was a stalwart for San Marcos defensively and racked up 23 digs.

For Dos Pueblos, Halle Rillie had another solid match with 40 assists, eights digs and four blocks. Low added ten kills and Mancuso finished with eight kills.

With the victory Dos Pueblos improved to 6-2 in Channel League play.